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On June 18 and 19, 2018, Ryerson Urban Water hosted the "Implementing Green Infrastructure: Building a Community of Practice" workshop at Ryerson University. PDF fileSee program here. Practitioners from Ontario and indeed across Canada gathered to advance and resolve obstacles to green infrastructure implementation. Participants included engineers, architects, planners, landscape architects, manufacturers and developers. Learn more

Participants overwhelmingly reported light bulb moments

The designs were enhanced by having the experts all together at the table, rather than passing the designs along in the typical segmented workflow.

Teams were able to discuss and integrate feedback throughout design development, rather than receive feedback once their task was done, and redress.

Teams felt this engagement made the design development more efficient and productive. Designs were ultimately found to be of better quality, given the limited time.

The Program

At the beginning of the workshop, speakers unveiled the changing regulatory landscape in Ontario. Speakers presented from the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, the City of Toronto, the City of Kitchener, Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, SCS Consulting Group, Credit Valley Conservation Authority, Mattamy Homes and Lake Simcoe Conservation Authority. See the speakers' presentations here.

Practitioners were then assigned to teams with other disciplines to design green infrastructure in both Greenfield and Retrofit sites. PDF fileSee scenarios here. Each site posed various challenges. Participants toiled for one full day then delivered site plan solutions to the audience. The authors and support committees responsible for site development then offered feedback to the teams about their innovative solutions.